wherever you are (come and get me now)
by letherbeseen
Summary: Rudy and Seth survive and together, more chaos ensues; Miller realizes that his mission in life isn't all that it seems; Ira makes it to the boat with Cosima and Charlotte; Mark finds out about Gracie's death and all hell breaks loose ... OR the one where the Castor Boys get their (sort-of) happy endings - also featuring the LEDA clones. [crossposted on Ao3]


**_SUMMARY:_** _Rudy_ and Seth survive and together, more chaos ensues; Miller realizes that his mission in life isn't all that it seems; Ira makes it to the boat with Cosima and Charlotte; Mark finds out about Gracie's death and all hell breaks loose.

or

The one where the Castor Boys get their (sort-of) happy endings - also featuring the LEDA clones.

* * *

**ONE**

**RUDY & SETH**

Rudy thinks of the day of his impending death.

Sooner or later, he knows it'll happen, just like the others.

_Glitching, _Mother calls it. It's protocol to kill them if the symptoms begin to show.

_Bang. _

One shot to the chest.

_Bang._

Another shot to the head.

_Bang._

The last tearing through his own heart.

No. Rudy can't afford to think like that. Not when there's Seth.

Seth's always been there for him, from to hell and back and he thinks, just _maybe_, they're the only ones who truly understand each other. Not like Miller or Mark — they've always been different from those two. Seth and Rudy are the youngest: picking up the leftover love from Mother (Mother loves them right? Now, he's not so sure) and oh, born from Project Castor when they were babies. They're not identical twins nor triplets or even quadruplets.

They're _clones._

They're fucking clones. Almost identical to the bone and they all live and breathe every moment of it. Well, except Mark. _That traitor._

Rudy's heard the rumors in base: _brother fucker _and _crazypsychokiller _and why should that bother him? They're nobodies and he'll be damned if he lets them see him as a pussy.

_Keep it up, soldier_.

But now, Seth is glitching. Rudy doesn't want to believe it but after the Major's stress testing at the hotel room, there's no way he can deny it. But Seth denies, denies, denies it, brushing it aside, claiming he's fine. They all know what Mother is capable of but now that it's happening to Seth … There's no way in hell Rudy will let him end up like Parsons. _brotherwhywhywhy …_

_How long has it been happening?_

_About a week. Maybe two._

It's another night at the hotel. Another night before they go on another restless search for the original. Another night of forgoing their extraction orders.

"We're brothers," Rudy whispers, cupping Seth's face between his hands. Their foreheads touch. "Yeah?"

His dark green eyes meet Seth's. Seth — the one whose face is indistinguishable from his own — well, apart from the mustache. Seth grins. "Always."

But his smile slowly fades as Rudy sits up, pulling away from him. Rudy tugs his shirt off and Seth's fingers reach up to lightly trace over the fading but still vivid wounds on Rudy's back. "I don't want to lose you."

Rudy doesn't respond. He can't lie, Seth would know it wasn't the truth anyway. They agreed never to lie to each other. But instead, he slips under the covers next to Seth. "We'll find a cure."

_I_ _swear on my life. For us._

When Rudy wakes in the morning, Seth's eyes are staring intently at the scar highlighting the right side of his brother's face. _Dangerous, _it screams. But he knows his brother likes it. And besides, it gets them to score the chicks they need. They like bad boys. The black notebook sits in Seth's jacket pocket hanging from the chair, ready for another victim to be logged in.

Rudy rolls out of bed and he can feel Seth's eyes on him. Seth asks, _What did I say?_

_You know._ _General whimpering, sorrows and regrets. The usual. _Rudy pauses for good measure, a brief smile crossing his lips. _How much you missed me._

_Shut up. _

"Rise and shine, brother," laughs Rudy, tossing Seth his clothes. "We've got a big day ahead of us."

He doesn't allow himself to think of the fact that they might as well as be dead already.

* * *

He can hear Seth muttering to himself in the Humvee back to base.

"Some doctors are fools. All fools are rich. Conclusion — some doctors are rich. True."

Seth's voice quavers as he shoots Rudy a shaken look from the backseat. _True. _ Seth lets out a growl between his teeth, smacking himself hard in the face, his knuckles already bloody and bruised. "True_,_" Seth forcibly spits out. Rudy remembers Dierden looking at Seth like he's broken. No, he's not broken. _Not yet,_ a voice whispers nastily.

_Some doctors are fools. All fools are rich. Conclusion — Fuck! Some doctors are fools. All fools are rich. All fools are rich. Some doctors are fools and take …_

It's getting undoubtedly worse. He can't stand seeing his brother like this. Not like the others.

He remembers the first time it happened when he was eight, then sixteen and it took hours, days, no _weeks_ until he finally died in agony. Mother claimed that there was _reason_ and _logic _behind it all and _this is how life works, Rudy. It's not fair, _he'd wanted to scream but then he would receive a slap to the face and hearing being told to man up when he had cried. _Pussy, _they jeered behind his back, glaring at him.

They're expendable, he'd realized._ Just a means to an end. Just a tear in the design _and_ I think there's a flaw in my code _and she didn't care. Mother didn't care. They all were watching their brother choke and writhe and scream — Miller, Mark, Seth and Rudy. Seth had gripped his hand tight in his, promising Rudy would care for the others because he _had_ to. He had to for the sake of the others.

_I am my brother's warrior. _

Rudy would find a cure. _I am my brother's warrior. _

He _just_ had to._ I am my brother's warrior._

_Trust me, _Seth would tell him. _You don't have to listen to her. Trust me. I'll protect you._

But Seth doesn't need to protect him any longer.

Because he's found it.

The cure.

Abel Johanssen is a literal box of bones underneath his gravestone that Sarah Manning is digging up for him right now. And he overhears her saying that apparently, she's his _sister_. The LEDA Clones are all his fucking sisters. Where's the irony in that? But Mark stops him before he can kill Perfect Sarah.

_We've got to bring it home_, Mark says.

And so they do.

Seth is still holding on, gasping and whimpering, fingers grasping at his shirt. _Don't hold on, little brother, _he wants to tell him for comfort, but he can't make his mouth move. Mark drives the Humvee this time, pretending not to look, with Sarah tied up and gagged in the back seat, unconscious.

_Death is the kinder option, _Rudy thinks as Seth begins to groan. Mother is waiting for them and shouts orders; Miller, Mark, and Rudy are carrying their dying brother toward the infirmary. Seth is dying. Seth is screaming —

Rudy trades blood transfusions with Sarah, because he knows that she'll cure them. She'll cure Seth. Raising her limp hand in his own, Rudy presses his lips against her knuckles, trailing his tongue up her perfect flesh. Perfect, perfect Sarah. She's their savior. He owes her that.

_Shh, _he tells her unconscious form, pressing his index finger to his lips. _Don't tell Mother, sister._

Then Helena escapes. Miller's screaming for everybody to get their asses out of bed and he knows he should go out and help his brother but he stays by Seth's side, whispering: _I'm here, Seth. I'm here. I love you. _

_Should. Should. Should._

_You don't have to listen to Mother anymore._

Color is slowly returning to Seth's cheeks in his feverish state as he mumbles deliriously, his eyes fluttering. Outside, he can hear more shouting. Suddenly, the curtain whips back and Rudy automatically finds himself raising his gun toward the intruder, straightening his body. It's Miller sporting a bloody nose — and along with him, is a bleeding Major Dierden.

"At ease, soldier," Dierden gasps.

Rudy's eyes drop down to see Miller's handiwork: four stabs in the right side of the abdomen and he can't help but smile. But Dierden still has a stubborn fighting spirit. He points a finger toward Rudy and he wants to laugh. He thinks he can threaten him. Rudy would love nothing more than to put a bullet in his brain. Or his heart. Or liver. _That_ would make a painful death. Dierden has other plans, though it seems.

"Did you know?" It's not a question, Rudy notices. It's an order and he understands what it means.

"Yes," he says truthfully. "I know _exactly_ what I do." _So does Seth. _He sends Dierden a mockery of obedience of folding his hands behind his back, a sardonic smile crossing his lips. _We know everything._

"Wipe that smile off your face, soldier," Deirden hisses through clenched teeth, blood seeping through pale fingers. "You want your brother to live? Then listen to me."

* * *

_Make it right, _Mark had said to Paul, but his eyes and body language had directed it toward Rudy. An unspoken _Do us right, brother _is silentlycommunicated between the three brothers. And it's like he's told himself in the past. He is his brothers' warrior. He bears the burden on his shoulders.

"_I'm destroying the research. Every last bit of it. This place -— I'm blowing it all to hell. So, asshole —" Dierden shoves a sealed bag with a small piece of Abel inside at Rudy's chest, knocking Rudy slightly off balance. _

_Rudy bites back a growl, wanting to punch the blond man off his feet. It's a damn shame he won't be able to do it while Dierden's still breathing, not unless he wanted to save Seth. In his mind's eye, Rudy mimes the kickback of a gun toward Dierden's head with his finger. _Pow_. _

_In between Dierden's struggling but commanding breaths, he continues: "After this, you stay away from Sarah. You stay from your sisters. You understand that? That's an order, soldier."_

"_Yes, sir," Rudy growls, his hand rising to his forehead in a mock of a salute. _

"_What would have me do, sir?" Miller asks, shooting his brother a glare that screamed for Rudy to behave. He's never once loosened his straightened stance, head held high, hands folded behind his back, though he shifted on his prosthetic leg uncomfortably. _

_The stupid pink pony keychain is still hanging from his belt loop by his side. _Jesus, he still has it? _Rudy watches Miller roll it between his fingers absentmindedly before letting it go._

_Dierden studies Miller as Rudy notices the bloodstain underneath the Major's shirt pooling into a deeper color. Finally, Dierden says, "I'm gonna need your hands."_

Seth is besides him, skin pallid and glistening with sweat but alive — he's still alive, still fucking alive and kicking and Rudy dares breathes a sigh of relief. His fingers subconsciously latches onto the bag carrying one of Abel's bones inside his jacket. The cure. _Still there._

"Rudy," Seth's raspy voice whispers. His eyes are dilated, half-opened as he struggles to focus on his brother's face. He groans as he pushes himself up from the passenger seat. "Did we … did you do it?"

Rudy takes his eyes off the road for a split-second. He can't help but let out a relieved chuckle. "Yeah, brother. We did it. Mother —"

He catches himself. _Mother_ never cared. He'd seen her face when she'd shot Dierden not once but six times before he had escaped and he'd understood that it could've been him in Dierden's place. It could've been any one of his brothers. She never cared about him, _them_ at all.

"You can thank our sister for that, brother. She saved us."

"Sister?" Seth mumbles confusingly.

"Long story. Rest, brother. You deserve it."

Behind him, the world explodes into fire, the sudden motion momentarily lurching the Humvee up off its wheels before Rudy scrambles to correct its course, jerking the wheel to the side. The tires whine in protest as he slams on the brakes. All that's left of his life, _their_ lives, is now turned to ashes.

"You all right?" he asks Seth, making sure there's no injuries on him, holding his face between his hands. Once he's convinced there isn't and Seth waves it off sluggishly, he starts the Humvee again, the engine roaring to life.

"Let's get the fuck out of here."

* * *

_**I've always thought the Castor Clones had SOOO much potential. I know a lot of people didn't like them but I did.**_

_**It also always bothered me somewhat in the later seasons that Sarah or the rest of LEDA clones didn't even want to help Mark with finding a cure when he helped them out and I really liked the short interactions we got with Mark and Sarah and with Rudy and Helena and damn it, Mark deserved to be happy with Gracie in the end!**_

_**So this is me flipping this around and writing an idea of a "what if they lived?" And yeah, Sexy Paul - RIP.**_

_**I apologize for the OOC-ness of, like, everyone, especially the LEDA clones (haha) and I hope you enjoy my first Orphan Black fic! Please leave a comment or kudos if you liked this or leave some criticism below! :)**_


End file.
